"Now what?" Doug repeated. "Naima, you have to tell us. What happened to you? I talked to Janey, but she only said you found it. And that you got stuck and all she thought about was trying to get you free. And you touched it? The Palians were very clear about not touching it…"
Yeah, Naima thought. That wasn't my smartest move. First chance, I need to thank Janey and buy all of her drinks for the rest of our lives. If we ever see civilization again, that is.
She wasn’t quite ready yet to have the whole conversation about why she touched it in the first place, though. It was not something that she would ever, being of sane mind, do. A scientist couldn’t afford to be reckless, yet that was exactly what she’d been.
As for Doug's questions, Naima hesitated. Under the calming lights and on the comforting solidity of the Nautica, the things she'd seen and done sounded even more absurd.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "But I think that until we know what this is, we shouldn't tell anyone."
Doug gave her a stern look.
"If it is what we've been looking for–" he began, but Naima cut in.
It was like her whole body pulsed pain when she thought of losing the stone. Every fiber of her being wanted to keep it as close as she could to herself, bypassing rational thought by a wide, sweeping mile.
"Then I think it's better if we're sure before we hail the Palians. Doug, I'm telling you. I'm sure, but that thing... there is something going on with the stone. It's not exactly what we thought. Give me some time to study it. Please."
"The Palians might know," Janey offered uncertainly, frowning.
"We know," Naima countered. "This is our job. This is our one shot. I know now that they’d never let us see it again if we confirmed the location. There’s just no way. Not after… just trust me."
Silence rang through the room and everyone looked at her. She wondered for a brief moment if they thought her crazy, but in the next second she decided that it would not matter. Not if it meant she could study the stone for a while longer. Whatever it was, she felt like the stone was now a part of her, attached as securely as a limb might be.
She needed to know why that was.
“Just a day or two,” Doug said finally, looking at her with worry. “As long as it is safe.”
Naima’s mouth fell agape at his words. She’d never expected him to go for that crazy idea. Not Doug. Not the man who was always governed by rationality and knew exactly what it meant to hide scientific discoveries and the backlash that it could bring.
Only when she got back to her room did she understand. The woman she saw reflected in the mirror was barely her. The long, red hair was still wet and Naima's green eyes showed her tiredness, but that wasn't the problem.
Doug hadn't lied.
She really did look like she'd seen a ghost. It was like her features had changed and could never be turned back. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something, maybe everything, was different.
Gingerly touching her cheeks and cheekbones, Naima looked at herself with much the same expression as Doug and the rest of the crew had.
I really want to believe that’s all it was… A ghost, a vision created by lack of oxygen and a random bout of idiocy by me…
Naima slept through the first day after her abrupt return to the Nautica, partially thanks to the medication she had to take to fight the bends, but mostly because… well, she needed it.#p#分页标题#e#
It was the first time she had nightmares since childhood. Her stepbrother had told her the stars were the billion eyes of a space monster.
It didn't get better from there, until she felt like she hadn't slept in a week.
The main reason she insisted the gently glowing stone was the one they were looking for was the fact that she was still alive. The moment when she had caught it from falling on the ocean floor was clear in Naima's mind. In that fraction of a second, she had been distracted by the monster and the mysterious silvery-blonde woman.
Only natural.
But then Naima remembered getting out of the small cave. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that Janey couldn't have done it alone. The girl had saved her life, Naima was not going to deny that, but she felt like there was something else at play.
In her dreams, and she dreamed about the visions a lot, Naima always ended up pushing herself out. Through solid rock that was crushing down around her as she disturbed the cave.
At first she thought she was losing her mind, but then Naima saw her scars, deep cuts, and they confirmed it all. At least for her. Her back looked like someone had taken a rake to it. She was infinitely thankful for Palian healing technologies that took care of it quickly, but the fact remained.
Somehow, Naima had forced her way through a solid cave wall.
She was strong, years of diving did that to a person, but that was ridiculous to say the least.
Naima didn't mention it to anyone. Not to sound crazy, but also not to make it look like she didn't appreciate Janey doing everything in her powers to save her, despite the risk of losing the lifestone. Though there was a distinct feeling in Naima’s gut that no one really understood the value of the lifestone quite as well as she did.
Me, the silvery-blonde woman, and the red-eyed monster…
Still, the implications bothered Naima. Palians had said the stone enhanced everything it touched. It was clear to her that in that moment, the lifestone had helped her.
If she were superstitious, she would have thought the stone had a mind of its own, but that was not the case.
Standing in the Nautica’s laboratory, wrapped in a long white cloak to shield her from the coldness of the night, Naima watched the lifestone. It was suspended in air between magnetic fields, ready for inspection. There were several scanners pointed to it, running programs and diagnostics, but so far they weren't picking up anything special.
Yet, with slightly narrowed eyes, she watched on.
"Here again?" Doug asked, coming from his watch over the calm, endless ocean.
The planet was devoid of life, but to Doug Purnell that obviously wasn't a good enough reason to be sloppy with protection. Naima smiled to herself quietly. After her horrifying trip to the bottom of the ocean, it felt nice to come back to the world that never changed. One of rules mixed with cozy idiosyncrasies developed by the small crew.
"Yeah," Naima said. "Couldn't sleep."
"You've been coming here a lot," Doug commented with no particular emotion, disappearing into the small kitchen area beside the lab. "Do you want coffee?"
"It would be lovely, thank you," she answered, pulling the cloak more tightly around herself.
For some reason, she felt cold. The nights on Matthos IV were cooler than the days, but before her last dive, Naima had never been shivering like she was now. It was weird to say the least.
Not that there’s a lot of stuff left that isn’t weird.
"How do you know I've been coming here?" she asked.
"We have cameras, dear girl," Doug said, coming back with two cups of steaming hot coffee, handing one to her. "Is there anything you're not telling me?"
Plenty.
Naima hadn't told the crew about her visions. Not about the monster, nor the woman. For some reason, she didn't think it sounded very sane. She didn't doubt her mind, but she was aware others might not share her certainty.
"I think there is a reason why we're not getting anything from it," she said, pointing to the stone. "It's not in contact with anything. Only air."
The cup was quickly turning cold in her hands and by the time Naima raised it to her lips, the coffee was lukewarm at best. She frowned, but remained silent.
"You think so?" Doug asked, going closer. "We should conduct field tests then. Palians intend to use it as a power source, right? We could drop a piece of it in the engine."
Naima nodded.
"I think it would be a start," she said. "Perhaps not the main engine, though. Pick something simple that we can lose. No reason to risk everything for a theory."#p#分页标题#e#
Doug chuckled softly, but his gaze became serious when he looked at her again.
"You're white as a sheet, Naima," he said. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," she replied, ignoring the ice crystals in her coffee. "Let's work."
After a week, two things were perfectly clear aboard the Nautica.
First was that the mineral Naima had found was the lifestone, and that Doug was almost as reluctant to let go of it as Naima was. She and Doug had carefully cut off a small piece of it and dropped the pebble in the engine of one of their smaller scooters.
Scientific methods for the win, she had thought. To test the subject matter, throw it somewhere and wait to see if it does anything interesting.
It did.
After the scooter didn't immediately explode, Doug took it out for a spin and nearly fell off when it came to life, roaring like a wild animal. It was designed for ocean exploring and collecting samples more than fun rides, but now it looked like a wild horse finally set free on the endless water.
Doug came back, grinning ear to ear.
"That was a rush," he said. "I'll see what else it can do later."
But that joy was short-lived when the second thing that could no longer be denied was that Naima wasn't fine.
On the second day after her return from the ocean, Janey had jumped away from her, claiming her hands were cold as ice. They were, but Naima was still able to brush that off as nothing, just as she did the fact that nothing she ate or drank stayed warm after she touched it.